WEA President On Cheyenne School Closures: Not Enough Money

The president of the Wyoming Education Association says the bottom line is that there is just not enough money to keep eight Cheyenne elementary schools slated for closure open.

Cheyenne parents filed a lawsuit in December over plans to close the schools.

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The closures are the planned result of a cost-effective remedy study recommended by the Wyoming State Construction Department. Two new schools would be built in the district. One of those would be a 5-6 school in the South Triad which would open in 2027. The other would be a new K-4 school in the East Triad.. A couple of other schools would be rebuilt.

But the study also recommends closing eight elementary schools over the next few years. That list includes Miller, scheduled for closure in 2025. The other schools slated for closure include Deming [2026], Jessup [2027], Heber, Bain, Lebhart, and Fairview [all scheduled for closure in 2029] and Henderson, scheduled for a 2033 closure.

WEA President Kim Amen is a Cheyenne resident who taught in Cheyenne schools for 18 years. Of the closures, she says "The issue with that is there isn't enough money to keep all of the schools open."

Amen says she understands that everyone loves neighborhood schools, adding "and we agree with that. The problem is the legislature doesn't give us enough money to fund that...when it costs more to keep a school open then to get a new school, that's an issue. Our stand is that every school child needs a building that is adequate and modern."

She points to Arp Elementary "and the sewers backing up and now there in Eastridge. And so being able to replace those schools in a way that matters for all students is really important."

She says of the schools scheduled to close ''some of those schools are in really bad shape and I don't think people understand that it's not as simple as just a band aid to fix it."

Amen made the comments during a Thursday recording of an interview for the "Weekend In Wyoming" program. That segment will run at 11:33 a.m. on Saturday, February 1 on AM 650 KGAB.

You can hear what she had to say specific to the school closures in the audio file below.